Waitlisted/Placed on Alternate List

fa-la-la-lena · 03-26-2008, 08:41 PM

Bummer, waitlisted. Not an outright rejection, though, right? Sadly this was my 1st choice school. But there's still hope! I just figured us waitlisted peeps needed our own thread (as the accepted and rejected people already got their own).

List stats:
ACT: 33
GPA: 3.8 (unweighted), 3.98 (weighted)
Rank: top 3%, 11 out of ~400
EC's: 400+ hours of community service (president of Z-Club, NHS treasurer, chinese school stuff), jv softball, piano, lots of jobs (internship w/ Alaska world affairs council)
Essays: 1 good/great one, 1 weird/not-so-great one
Recs: Good, nothing spectacular
Staying on alternate List: Yep, most likely.

mehhh · 03-26-2008, 08:48 PM

ACT: 26
SAT: 1700
GPA: 4.2 W, 3.8 UW
Rank: Top 10% at a competitive high school
Essays: Personal statement was great- analytical, not so much.
Recs: Done by teachers who have called me the best student that they've ever had.

My numbers look horrible. But I'm a president of several environmental clubs (each with different purposes), volunteer for various environmental organizations (200+ hours), intered for the fish and wildlife service, and had a bunch of other cliche/school-based activities that i don't care about. I think I fit in better at Pitzer. . .

Spartan454 · 03-26-2008, 08:52 PM

SAT: 2300
UW GPA: 3.94
Rank: Top 10
EC's: 2 varsity sports, nmf, etc
Essays: good

ilk07 · 03-26-2008, 08:55 PM

ACT: 32
GPA: 3.8 UW 4.1 W (but so far senior year it was 4.1-2 UW 4.8-9 W because i really stepped up my schedule and effort)
EC's: 2 varsity supports, some very impressive community service, no leadership though

my essay was actually my favorite thing i've ever written- i wrote a dr. seuss poem about why he was a great leader lol... i think that was the reason i was wait-listed and not rejected. but i realized i answered the outfit question totally wrong- i was really tired at the time

fa-la-la-lena · 03-26-2008, 09:08 PM

Just in case people are interested, here's the waitlist letter.
--------------------------------
Your application has been given careful consideration by the Claremont McKenna College Admission Committee. They have voted to place your name on the Alternate List. If you wish to remain on our Alternate List, please return the enclosed postcard before May 1. After we receive your response postcard, if you indicate that you do wish to remain on our Alternate List, we will send you a more detailed letter of acknowledgment.

This decision was made with great regret, since your credentials indicate that you are qualified to do our work. However, because we received 4,178 applications for 300 freshman openings, we were left no alternative but to place some admissible people on the Alternate List.

Of course, some of the candidates whom we have accepted will not finally enter. Because last year's freshman class was a little too large, we had to be more careful with the number of students we admitted this year. Therefore, it is very possible that we may have some room to admit you after May 1, but we cannot be certain of this possibility until then. In some past years we have admitted relatively large numbers from the Alternate List and in other past years we have taken none off our Alternate List. Three years ago, for example, we later offered admission to 29 students who had originally been placed on our Alternate List. Two years ago we took 17 students off the Alternate List. Last year we took none. Each year is different and not entirely predictable.

Those who have been admitted now must notify us about their plans by May 1. If we take anyone from the Alternate List, we shall review all who are on it. There is no rank order. We shall write to you again after mid-May but before July 1 to tell you more definitely what your status is.

We regret that we cannot tell you any more at this point, but we shall certainly do all we can for you if we find we have openings.

Sincerely,

Richard C. Vos
Vice President,
Dean of Admission
and Financial Aid

Elysium49 · 03-26-2008, 09:37 PM

ACT: 34
UW GPA: 3.8/4 W GPA 4.4/4
President National Honor Society
Varsity VB Captain, Varsity Cross Country
Secretary spanish NHS. Secretary Model U.N., Church Worship Leader
Recs: Very good
Essays: I thought they were good.....
except I spelled Condoleezza Rice's name as Condoleeza.
I'm staying on the waitlist.

fa-la-la-lena · 03-27-2008, 01:49 AM

wahoo! so it ends up us waitlisted folks are in a company of 500, according to The Forum Forum Archive CMC Accepts 19% of Applicants for Class of 2012

Elysium49 · 03-27-2008, 03:46 AM

so..in other words...don't hold your breath....

tickytock14 · 03-27-2008, 06:58 PM

ACT: 35
GPA: 3.6ish UW
Rank: school doesn't officially rank; I think my counselor put like top 25%
EC's: national FBLA prizes, sports, NHS, chinese school (I'm white)
Essays: not my best work
Recs: probably just OK
Staying on alternate List: depends what I hear next week, but CMC was my top choice, so probably

tickytock14 · 03-27-2008, 07:06 PM

so we were in about the top 30% of applicants. not too bad, I guess.

pirateslove · 03-27-2008, 09:06 PM

SAT: 2130/1440
GPA: 96 out of 100 unweighted
Rank: 3/224
EC: Very involved with music- Field captain of marching band, Youth Orchestra for the United Nations, Jazz Band, etc; Model Congress; President of Environmental Club, Hurricane Relief Concert in New Orleans, Varsity Lacrosse, Math team, French Club treasurer, volunteered at children's hospital, UN Youth Assembly, Summer programs at Brown
Essays: I thought my creative ones were decent but I didn't spend enough time on the analytical one
Staying on the list: Nope. They accepted none from the waitlist last year and I also got into WashU, a school I would go over CMC.

HolyCow2008 · 03-29-2008, 03:12 AM

Do you guys know if it's possible to know what your ranking is for the wait list?

acadec · 03-29-2008, 09:30 AM

i don't think there are rankings.

superdigg · 03-29-2008, 10:19 AM

I think acadec is right. I think I read somewhere that, once they find out if there are any spaces available for waitlisted applicants, they re-evaluate the entire pool to make their decisions.

what I don't understand, is what happens to people that choose to stay on the waitlist, but don't get admitted. at that point, isn't it too late to choose to enroll at the places that have accepted you? I don't get it..

nirvana19 · 03-29-2008, 12:42 PM

You have to choose another college to enroll in and send in a deposit. If you're wait-listed you act as if you've been rejected and decide what other school you want to go to. If by chance you're accepted off the wait list, then you withdraw from the other school and forfeit your deposit (if you choose to attend CMC, that is).